Throughout the ages gold has always been the most precious metal and the most recognized store of value. Similarly, ruby has been the precious stone most recognized for beauty, veneration, rarity and value for thousands of years.
There has always been a ruby standard in the civilised world dating from the earliest civilisations. In today’s day the sentiment remains the same as a clear, transparent and flawless ruby that has a uniform red color is currently the most valuable precious stone known. Yes, more valuable than diamonds, emeralds, alexandrite and other notable gemstones.
However most of the rubies seen in today’s jewelry is made up of the commercial type of ruby mined in different parts of the world. A ruby ring may have a ruby from Burma, Thailand, or any number of other places in the world. But generally speaking they will be included gems and will not be very transparent. People have accepted this about ruby and so many people whose birthstone is ruby do not wear them in ruby earrings, ruby engagement rings, or ruby and diamond rings.
They are simply not available as a reasonably transparent stone at prices that a regular consumer will be willing to pay for them. This does not mean that rubies are considered unattractive. Many women like the pigeon blood color of ruby so much that they don’t take the clarity into consideration.
A ruby engagement ring is a definite rarity since most women in this country would rather go for a colored diamond these days as their center stone rather than any other type of precious stone if they are looking for a colored center stone. Collectors on the other hand have loved rubies for eons because of their rarity in the finer qualities and their reliability as a store of value. There have been several finds in ruby deposits indifferent countries over the years but none that changes the
basic quality equation significantly.
Nice transparent ruby specimens of good color are going to be a rarity for the foreseeable future and will command prices anywhere between $5000 to a few hundred thousand per carat. For this reason a ruby diamond ring is the most common type of ring to see a ruby in. Look at the stunning ruby ring to the right with a rather large high quality oval ruby surrounded by a matched pair of half moon cut diamonds. Although the ruby is not that clean, the brilliant red color (that is not orangey or purply) and size makes it a collector’s ruby.
Nothing sets off the magnificent strong red color of a ruby like white accent diamonds. Women who love rubies will not hesitate to invest in a ruby engagement ring. The most common type of ruby engagement ring is three stone ruby rings where you have a center diamond with matched rubies on the sides. Ruby and diamond rings are also purchased by men.
A star ruby is one of the most popular precious stones that go into a mens star ruby ring. As a 
mens ruby ring it is so popular that synthetic star ruby had to fill demand since natural star rubies with the stars perfectly aligned are quite rare. Usually for men it will be a gold ruby ring whether yellow or white gold and the star ruby will be an almost burgundy color which is actually a male color.
Check out the magnificent natural star ruby to the right. Granted, the purple component is strong but the asterism is perfectly positioned and well delineated. No fuzziness about this star. It is a fantastic specimen over 15 carats in size. Cabochons do tend to look smaller than their faceted counterparts than the carat weight would indicate since the domed top always maximises volume for a given length by width.
Antique ruby rings abound in the estate sections of many jewelry stores but most of the really old ruby rings in the middle ages were not rubies at all but were spinels. Many gemstones in crown jewels of some countries were thought to be rubies and have in fact turned out to be spinels because they look so much alike.